Concise summary of, comments on the book.  Toward an Environmentally 
Sustainable Future.
Country Environmental Analysis of the
People’s Republic of China.

 The book was published in 2012. The publisher was  Asian Development Bank (ADB). Authors of the book: Qingfeng Zhang and Robert Crooks. 200 pages.
Contents:
List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes.  vii;
Abbreviations.  ix;
Foreword.  xi;
Acknowledgments.  xiii;
Executive Summary.  xvi;
1.  Introduction.  1;
2.  The Environment and Development Framework.  4;
2.1.  Introduction. 4;
2.2.  The Pace of Economic Growth and Development.  4;
2.3.  Sectoral Structure of the Economy.  6;
2.4.  Energy.  7;
2.5.  Urbanization.  10;
2.6.  Future Prospects.  16;
3.  Natural Resources Management.  18;
3.1.  Climate and Topography.  18;
3.2.  Land Resources and Land Degradation.  19;
3.3.  Biodiversity.  23;
3.4.  Forests.  28;
4.  Water and Air Pollution and Solid Waste Management.  34;
4.1.  Water Quantity and Quality.  34;
4.2.  Air Quality and Sources of Air Pollution.  55;
4.3.  Solid Waste.  64;
5.  The Climate Change Agenda.  69;
5.1.  Introduction.  69;
5.2.  Contribution to Climate Change of the People’s Republic of China.  69;
5.3.  How the People’s Republic of China Has Been and Might Be Affected 
by Climate Change.  73;
5.4. The Strategic Position of the People’s Republic of China on 
Climate Change.  80;
5.5.  Climate Change Strategies under the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015).  86;
5.6.  Barriers.  87;
5.7.  Role of the Asian Development Bank.  89;
6.  Policy, Institutional, and Fiscal Frameworks for Environmental Protection 91;
6.1.  Introduction.  91;
6.2.  Strategic Framework and the “Three Shifts”.  91;
6.3. The Institutional Framework for Environmental Management 
and Protection.  92;
6.4.  Changes in Laws, Regulations, and Related Instruments.  105;
6.5.  Fiscal Dimensions of Environmental Management.  112;
6.6.  Conclusion.  122;
7.  Strategic Framework for Environmental Protection.  124;
7.1.  Introduction.  124;
7.2. Macro-Environmental Strategy of the Ministry of Environmental ;
Protection.  124;
7.3.  The 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010).  127;
7.4.  Environmental Strategy for the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015).  138;
8.  Implications for the Country Partnership Strategy.  149;
8.1.  Introduction.  149;
8.2.  Asian Development Bank’s Assistance Program.  151;
8.3.  Private Sector Participation in ADB’s Environmental Projects.  159;
8.4.  Environmental Assistance of Other Donors.  161;
8.5.  Policy and Institutional Issues: Environmental Impact Assessment.  164;
8.6.  Assessment of ADB Performance in the People’s Republic of China.  172;
8.7. Strategic Directions of the People’s Republic of China and Possible Areas 
of ADB Assistance.  174;
References  187;

 Figures (26), and Boxes(3):
 Figures (26):
1 Real Gross Domestic Product Growth of BRIC Countries and the 
United States, 1990–2008.  5;
2 Composition of Gross Domestic Product by Sector, 1998–2009.  7;
3 Economic Energy Intensity and Per Capita Energy Consumption, 1990–2009.  8;
4 Economic Efficiency of Energy Consumption, 2000–2007.  9;
5 Components of the Energy Mix in the People’s Republic of China, 1990–2008.  9;
6 Urban and Rural Population Trends, 1982–2008.  11;
7 Annual Plantation Establishment Rates, 2001–2007.  32;
8 Total Water Consumption and Sector Consumption, 2000–2008.  36;
9 Water Utilization Rates by River Basin.  38;
10 General Surface Water Quality Trends, 1998–2009.  40;
11 Water Quality of Key Lakes and Reservoirs, 2003–2009.  41;
12  Industrial and Domestic Wastewater Flows and Chemical Oxygen Demand Loads, 
1999–2009. 46;
13 Major Sources of Industrial Chemical Oxygen Demand Discharges.  47;
14 Livestock Numbers in the People’s Republic of China, 1978–2005.  50;
15 Ambient Urban Air Quality Trends, 1999–2009.  56;
16 Changes in Air Pollutant Emission Intensities, 1997 and 2009.  58;
17 Industrial Air Emissions, 1998–2009.  60;
18 Number of Civil and Private Vehicles and Gross Domestic Product 
Growth in the People’s Republic of China, 1978–2007.  61;
19  Growth of Municipal Solid Waste Production and Gross Domestic Product, 
2000–2008. 65;
20 Carbon Dioxide Emissions of the People’s Republic of China (1980–2008), 
Compared to Selected Major Economies.  70;
21  Carbon Dioxide Emissions Project in the People’s Republic of China, 
Under Different Development Scenarios.  72;
22  Actual and Projected Total Energy Demand in the People’s Republic of China, 
2000–205. 73;
23  Schematic Diagram of the Environmental Supervision System in the 
People’s Republic of China.  98;
24 Investments in the Treatment of Environmental Pollution, 2004–2008.  112;
25 Sector Distribution of ADB Lending by Value, 10th and 11th Five-Year Plan Periods.  152;
26 ADB Lending, 1991–2010.  172;

Boxes:
1 The Loess Plateau Rehabilitation Program.  21;
2 The People’s Republic of China–Global Environment Facility Partnership 
to Combat Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems.  24;
3 Tai Lake Cleanup.  42;

 Comments  (on the basis of the final part of the book):
This book  presents the results of a 2-year effort to
update environmental assessment in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The research
was a collaborative effort involving the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Ministry of
Environmental Protection, the National Development and Reform Commission, and numerous
other technical and research institutions in the PRC. Based on this research and extensive
consultations, ADB proposes a wide range of programs and policies that will help improve
environmental quality despite new and emerging sources of pollution and challenges to
natural resources management.
 Inclusive growth and a green economy are the government’s guiding principles for
its development agenda under the 12th Five-Year Plan and beyond to 2020. To support
these principles, the PRC needs to restructure its economic and fiscal systems to reflect
environmental externality, expand the use of market-based instruments to control pollution,
and introduce and implement legal reforms to clarify responsibility and promote cooperation.
T his publication is of interest to all those concerned
 about environmental quality in  Asia, especially in China.